Big Walk patch fixes quiet mic volumes but House House won't extend voice chat range

House House has patched Big Walk to address widespread complaints about proximity voice chat being too quiet for players with lower-sensitivity microphone setups. The fix is live now on Steam.

The patch boosts the overall volume for quiet microphones, meaning players will be audible both up close and at medium distances where they previously couldn't be heard at all. What it doesn't change is the distance at which voices drop off entirely — and House House is firm on that point. "We consider it an important part of the game's design that you can only hear players who are close to you," the studio wrote. "This distance is quite specific and shapes the dynamics of the game, the same way that a character's jump height might be very specific in a platforming game." The studio also acknowledged that the issue slipped through pre-release testing because none of their playtesters happened to use particularly quiet mic setups — a problem that only surfaced once hundreds of thousands of players got their hands on the game.

Big Walk is the latest from House House, the Melbourne studio behind Untitled Goose Game. The game's central design tension is communication under constraint: voices carry only a short distance, so players coordinate through radios, arm signals, written notes, and signs. That proximity-based friction is intentional — it forces meaningful decisions about whether to stick together or split up and use gear like walkie-talkies to stay in contact.

House House hasn't committed to further voice chat changes, including the individual volume sliders some players have requested. The studio called this patch the "single most important fix regarding voice volume" and said it will take things one step at a time given the team's small size.